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Early Wednesday morning, ABC 13 reported on the burning garbage containers in the consulate yard. A police spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle that witnesses saw burned paper in open trash cans near the building. Police also informed Fox26 Houston that a fire report had been received at the consulate Tuesday night. It turned out that it was due to burning documents, reports businessinsider.com.
KPRC 2 said police had received information about the burned documents Tuesday after 8 p.m. local time. One of the witnesses told KPRC 2: “The smell of burnt paper remained in the air.”
Documents are being burned en masse at the Chinese consulate in liquidation
Fox26 reported that police and fire officials were unable to enter the consulate because it was considered Chinese territory. A police spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle that the police had not received permission to enter the building. The images show that a building is burning documents outside.
Business Insider was unable to contact the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Houston during non-business hours.
NEW VIDEO: Documents, other materials appear to be burned in the courtyard of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, Texas; Police and firefighters responded but it is unclear if they entered the property.
@ KPRC2Tulsi
pic.twitter.com/4vZktNpsWQ
– Breaking911 (@ Breaking911) July 22, 2020
Instructed to close
The United States has ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Beijing announced Wednesday, calling it a “political provocation” that would further damage diplomatic relations.
The decision was made amid tensions between the world’s two largest economies on a variety of issues, including the controversial National Security Law passed by Beijing to Hong Kong.
“China is urging the United States to reverse its wrong decision immediately, otherwise China will certainly take an appropriate and necessary response,” said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, adding that China was ordered to close your consulate on Tuesday.
“This is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the United States, a serious violation of international law … and a bilateral consular agreement between China and the United States,” said Wang Wenbin.
He added that Beijing “strongly condemns the scandalous and unjustified measure that will worsen Sino-US relations.”
The US State Department, meanwhile, announced Wednesday that the mission was closed to protect American data.
“We have ordered the closure of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Houston to protect American intellectual property and private information,” Morgan Ortagus, spokesman for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Copenhagen, said at a press conference.
He added that according to the Vienna Convention, the parties “have an obligation not to interfere in [priimančiosios valstybės] home affairs’.
According to Houston media, firefighters and police were summoned to the Chinese consulate building on Tuesday after receiving reports that documents were burning in their backyard.
Houston police reported on Twitter that smoke had been seen there, but that “officers were not allowed to enter.”
Diplomatic dispute
The Chinese consulate in Houston, according to its website, opened in 1979 and became the first such institution in the year diplomatic relations were established between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
The website claims that the mission serves eight U.S. states, including Texas and Florida, and that nearly a million people live in the consulate’s registered area.
There are five Chinese consulates in the United States, as well as an embassy in Washington.
President Donald Trump’s administration recently put increasing pressure on Beijing on various issues and recently imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for its policies towards Tibet and Xinjiang.
The United States condemns China’s treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, a region in the Wild West where an estimated one million Uighurs and other ethnic groups are being held in “re-education” camps.
Washington also revoked the privileged status of relations with Hong Kong after Beijing drafted a new security law for the city. The US government argues that this legislation violates Hong Kong’s promised autonomy.
In addition, last week, Washington declared Beijing’s offer to confiscate water and resources in the South China Sea illegal, unequivocally expressing its support for the claims of Southeast Asian states in the region.
Washington also angered Beijing when it blacklisted telecommunications giant Huawei and asked Canada to extradite Meng Wanzhou, a senior company official.
During a visit to Britain on Tuesday, Pompeo called on “everyone” to oppose Chinese influence.
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